Weddings Are Fun, Right?
by Ezzie T
Summary: What if Van and Hitomi got married later in life? I'm sure this has been done to death and back, but tell me what you think of my version. *Chp. 2.1 now up*
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Look, do you really think I'm going to say anything different from what everyone else says?   
  
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**Weddings Are Fun, Right?**  
Prologue   
  
The story is set 6 years after the end of Escaflowne, when Van and Hitomi are 21. Van and Hitomi have been communicating through their thoughts, and every once and a while, Van would visit her (in secret of course). Now that Hitomi has completed college, her education is no longer an obstacle for their love...   
  
One day in mid-July...   
  
Hitomi was relaxing on the beach, enjoying summer. Hitomi heard someone with a gentle, though slightly rough-sounding voice call her name.   
  
_Hitomi...are you there?_   
  
Hitomi looked around, but there was no one else on the beach except for her.   
  
_It's me, can you hear me?_   
  
She looked again, but there was no one. She knew she'd heard the voice. The voice sounded really familiar. _Wait, could it be? _   
  
"Van!" she cried out. _Van, I'm here._   
  
_Hitomi! It's been so long since we've talked. Is there any chance I could visit you sometime soon? I need to talk to you about something important._   
  
_Could you just tell me now?_   
  
_No, we have to talk about this in person._   
  
_Oh, alright. If it's that important..._   
  
_Thank you._   
  
_Meet me at midnight, in the usual place. I'll be waiting._   
  
_Right. See you then._   
  
Hitomi was so excited. She hadn't seen him since last December, when Merle had gotten a hold of the pendant, and dragged him to Earth for a visit.   
  
That night...   
  
Hitomi awoke from her slumber and looked at the time.   
  
"11:45? I'm gonna be late!"   
  
She threw on shorts and a t-shirt, and ran out the door. Hitomi flew down the steps of her apartment building and dashed out into the parking lot. (A/N: She lives alone.) She jumped into her car and backed out. As she pulled out onto the road, and was thankful that there wasn't too much traffic this time of night, even in summer. After that thought, there were none others. All she could think of was Van.   
  
The wind rushed through Hitomi's hair as she ran to the meeting place. It was the shrine, where Van slew the dragon, so many years ago.   
  
_I hope I'm not late. I hope I'm not late. I hope I'm not..._   
  
She was right on time. just as she arrived, a beam of light came down from the sky. Catching her breath, she saw that handsome silhouette.   
  
"...Van?" she gasped.   
  
"No, it's Falcon."   
  
"Van it's really you!"   
  
"I'm here, and let me say, you look gorgeous tonight."   
  
"You're not looking so bad yourself. I really missed you."   
  
"So did I. Before we catch up, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."   
  
"Sure, what is it Van?"   
  
"Well, you do love me, don't you?"   
  
"Oh of course Van! You know I do!"   
  
"Well then, would you consider becoming Queen of Fanelia?"   
  
"..."   
  
The silence cut through Van like a knife. Waiting for a reply, he heard a soft noise, a sad noise. He looked up at Hitomi and noticed a small tear rolling down her cheeck.   
  
"Hitomi? Are you..."   
  
"Oh Van!" she sobbed, "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment!"   
  
"Hitomi..."   
  
Van pulled his new fiance towards himself, and held her in his arms. 


	2. Chapter 1

Dsiclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne and yadda, yadda, yadda.   
  
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**Weddings Are Fun, Right?**  
Chapter 1: Time to Meet the Parents   
  
"Van...Van!...Wake up!" Hitomi whispered.   
  
It was three days since Van had proposed to her. Van was staying at her apartment and sleping on the couch (there was no room on Hitomi's bed), until they went back to Gaea. Today was the day Hitomi was going to come clean, and tell her parents everything. About Gaea, her adventures, and especially Van. I mean, she was marrying the guy.   
  
"Give me a couple more minutes," Van grunted. Hitomi poked his shoulder.   
  
"It's not proper for a king to sleep in late."   
  
"And it's not proper for his bride to be to bruise his shoulder." Van swatted at her hand.   
  
"Come on. It's almost 10:30, and my parents are expecting me at 12:00."   
  
"Oh alright. I'm getting up."   
  
"You should probably clean yourself up before we go. You go take a shower while I get us something to eat."   
  
"Okay."   
  
Hitomi walked over to the kitchen area and peeked in the fridge to see what she had. There wasn't much, but she found some orange juice, and she got some rice out of the cabinet. She threw some rice in the pressure cooker and poured the orange juice into two glasses and placed them on the table. She had nothing to do while the rice was cooking, so she turned on her radio and listened to some music. A couple minutes later she heard Van calling.   
  
"Hitomi!"   
  
"What is it Van?"   
  
He poked his head out of the bathroom. "Hitomi, where are the towels?"   
  
"They're in the closet in the hallway."   
  
"Ummm...Hitomi?..."   
  
"What is it--oh! Sorry! Don't worry, I'll get you one!"   
  
She looked away as she handed Van a towel.   
  
"Thanks!"   
  
Though they had known each other so long, and though they were engaged, Hitomi still blushed at the thought of Van taking a shower.   
  
In an hour, they were on their way.   
  
"This is it!" Hitomi shouted as they pulled up to her old house. "Come on Van! Let's go in! Van?"   
  
Van was staring vacantly forward and his jaw was dropped.   
  
"Are you alright? Oh yeah! The first car ride thing..."   
  
"..."   
  
"Okay, let's go," Hitomi said impatiently.   
  
"..."   
  
Hitomi pulled Van out of the car.   
  
"Gosh. For a king your such a baby."   
  
"Oh, what?"   
  
"Let's go!"   
  
They walked up the steps to her parents' home. Hitomi rung the doorbell. Silence. She rung it again. Still no reply, then...   
  
"Coming!"   
  
Hitomi heard her mother's voice. Then the door opened.   
  
"Oh Hitomi, it's you! Come on in!"   
  
Hitomi's mother, not noticing Van, slammed the door in his face.   
  
"Wait! Mother! There's some one else here!"   
  
She opened the door. "Well this is a surprise. Who's this Hitomi?"   
  
"Uh, I'll explain. Can he come in?"   
  
"Okay, if he's a friend of yours."   
  
Van walked into the living room, rubbing his nose where the door had hit it. He and Hitomi sat down next to the table, where three teacups were sitting.   
  
Hitomi's mom noticed this. "Here, I'll get another cup," she offered.   
  
"No, that's okay," Van replied.   
  
"Alright... I'll go get your father," she added, turning to Hitomi.   
  
A minute later, her mom re-entered with her dad.   
  
"Hitomi, I didn't know you were bringing company. Is this your friend?" her father took a seat opposite Van.   
  
"Sort of..."   
  
Her mother interrupted. "What was it you needed to tell us that was so important?"   
  
"I'm getting to that. First of all, this is Van Fanel."   
  
"Interesting name. Are you from around here Van?"   
  
Van smiled. "Definately not."   
  
Hitomi silently admonished Van. _Don't say too much. Let me handle this._   
  
"Well where are you from?"   
  
Hitomi butted in. "Mother, I know you're not going to believe this, but...Van is from another planet."   
  
"Don't joke Hitomi."   
  
"I'm not! It's true! Remember 6 six years ago, when I vanished for 3 weeks without a trace? I was taken to another planet, Gaea, where Grandmother went whe she was my age. Van is from Gaea. He's the king of one of it's kingdoms, Fanelia."   
  
Hitomi explained everything, from when Van appeared on the track field, to when she left Gaea, to how she and Van had been communicating, and finally to...   
  
"What?!!" her father gasped, "You're engaged to this boy?"   
  
"That means..." her mother asked gleefully, "That you'll be the queen of Fanelia?"   
  
Hitomi was glad her parents approved. "Yep!" 


	3. Chapter 2, Part 1

Disclaimer: You know the drill.   
  
************************************************************************************ Weddings Are Fun, Right? Chapter 2, Part 1: Sunday   
  
Today was Sunday, and Van and Hitomi were going to be married in a week. Everyone was busy preparing for the wedding. Millerna was the self appointed wedding planner.   
  
"Okay people! Settle down!"   
  
Millerna had gathered together all of the people associated with the wedding.   
  
"Come on!" Millerna finally grabbed everyone's attention. "We only have 3 weeks to get ready for the wedding. We need to assign some roles."   
  
Van spoke up. "Well it is my wedding-"   
  
Hitomi interrupted with a giggle, "Our wedding."   
  
Van grinned. "You're right. Since it is our wedding, and since I'm the king, I'm sure I can get our royal kitchens to prepare the food. But we'll need some help. Most likely the whole kingdom will be coming!"   
  
Millerna smiled. "Don't worry Van, I'm sure Asturia can provide some food. It shouldn't be too much trouble."   
  
Millerna marked off a box on her checklist.   
  
"Now that the food's taken care of, we'll someone to decide on decorations, make invitations, make the cake, get supplies, and assign roles such as flower girl and such."   
  
"Millerna, who's in charge of picking out the outfits?" Hitomi wondered.   
  
"Glad you asked. I've decided that Celena, Merle, and myself, along with your assistance, Hitomi, will be in charge of picking outfits for the women, your dress included. Allen, you and Hitomi's friend can help Van pick the outfits for the men."   
  
Van sweatdropped. _A-Allen? Oh brother... _"Sounds like a good idea..."   
  
Van could see it now...walking down the aisle with sleeves as big as his head. *Shudder*   
  
"Excuse me, is there any way I could help?" the girl next to Hitomi piped up.   
  
"I'm sorry, what was your name again?"   
  
"Yukari."   
  
"Oh, my apologies. I'm sure there's a way you can help. In fact, you can help me plan some of the finer details of the wedding, since everyone else will be so busy. That is, unless you had something else in mind."   
  
"No, that's alright, I'm good with planning."   
  
"Great, that way things will go faster."   
  
After telling her parents the big news, Hitomi and Van had tracked down Yukari and Amano, who were now married. They, as well as Hitomi's parents, came to Gaea to help plan for the wedding.   
  
They spent half an hour longer, and finally decided that Princess Aries would decide on decorations, Dryden would get the invitations made, Hitomi's mother would help bake the cake. Prince Cid would help get supplies (he has connections), and Folken would assign roles. (A/N: Yes Folken. In my universe, all the people anyone actually cares about are still alive.) After the meeting, Hitomi's mother walked up to her son-in-law's older brother.   
  
"Is that a tattoo?" she inquired about his purple tear drop.   
  
"..."   
  
Hitomi rushed up and pulled her mother to the side. "Mom, it's best not to ask about the tear drop...or the cybernectic arm," Hitomi whispered.   
  
"He has a-"   
  
"Don't talk about it."   
  
"Okay..."   
  
In the hallway...   
  
Allen was making his way down the hall, when who should he happen to bump in to? Amano of course!   
  
Allen picked up the paper Amano had dropped. "Sorry, I didn't see-"   
  
The two looked at each other, both wearing a look of shock. Hitomi walked out of the meeting room and noticed them.   
  
"Uh-oh, I knew this was going to happen... Allen! Amano!"   
  
They snapped out of it.   
  
"Have you two been properly introduced?" They shook their heads.   
  
"Okay. Allen, this is Amano. Amano, this is Allen. Allen is my friend from Gaea," she turned to face Allen," Amano is my friend from Earth. By some strange coincidence, you two look an awful lot alike."   
  
Amano understood. "You can say that again. I thought I was looking into some kind of mirror. Pleased to meet you Allen." Amano stuck out his hand.   
  
"It's nice meet you also," Allen replied. He shook Amano's hand.   
  
Hitomi had snuck away by now.   
  
"So Allen, how do you get your hair so long and shiny?"   
  
"Easy, see what you have to do is..." The two walked down the hall together.   
  
Hitomi came back out of meeting room and looked down the hall. "Looks like those two'll be good friends."   
  
Later that day...   
  
Merle finished filing her nails and walked into the castle.   
  
"What time is it?" she wondered. Merle walked down to where the meeting room was. She looked inside; it was empty.   
  
"Guess I missed the meeting. Well, hopefully they didn't assign me some dumb job."   
  
She went down the hall to the dining room. Hitomi and Van were sitting at the table chatting.   
  
"Hello, lovebirds." she grinned.   
  
Van looked over. "Oh, hi Merle!"   
  
Merle walked over and sat down across from them.   
  
"That new dress looks really nice on you Merle," Hitomi complemented, addressing the 19-year-old.   
  
"Thanks. So what are you two up to? Planning your honeymoon?"   
  
"Actually we are," Van replied.   
  
"Yeah, but we can't decide if we want to find somewhere nice here on Gaea, or if we should go to Earth," Hitomi added.   
  
"Don't worry about it. You still have a few weeks to decide." 


End file.
